Afterclass…

Ibuki peeked in the library before entering and spotting Mary sitting by herself studying algebra in her textbook. She stood behind the girl's seat and touched her red hair.

"Are you busy Mary?"

"H-huh..?!"

Mary blushed and faced her. "Ibuki!"

Ibuki stepped back. "Sorry if I surprised you. I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?"

"With me?" Mary brightened up "Not even Hyde asked to hang out with me! I'm not busy at all, where do you want to go? What do you want to do?"

Hyde and Mikael weren't kidding when they said she was too talkative. Well, how was Ibuki going to get answers? What did Ibuki want to do?

Take her out on a date!

The answer was clear.

Taking Mary out on a date would yield the most results because of her being easily flustered and easy to sway emotionally. These were bad traits to have as a detective but Ibuki would worry later about patching up these flaws of hers. She would use this to her advantage while on the date.

Her blank stare passed Mary, not noticing how flushed red the girl's face was. She was in her thoughts planning out a detailed course of events and possibilities, only being interrupted when Mary stammered.

"D-d-date?!" Her eyes become swirls. "Hahhaa…"

"We'll go to a food store in Kashiwara." Ibuki smiled. Ending the conversation early, Ibuki left the library feeling too awkward by the girl's enthusiasm.

During the time apart, Ibuki thought more about how to conduct the interrogation without raising suspicion. She and Mary would later meet up after school and head straight to a small restaurant.

"Mary looks way more excited than usual. I wonder what Ibuki said to her." Mikael watched from the school entrance.

Hyde shrugged "Dunno, probably a good day. Come on, Yurobei and Chihiro are waiting for us.

The two boys continued making their way to the gym.

"..." Ibuki stared at the wall beside her. "All this table rattling. Do people not know how to keep their legs still when they're nervous..?!"

She briefly glanced at Mary. She was certainly a pretty girl but the way she acted warded off attraction. Her she had features that would make any woman jealous… like her chest. Ibuki looked at her own flat chest and shook her head. Big breasts only got in the way, they were only meant to weigh someone down. Although she wondered what touching them might feel like...

"..." Mary nervously twirled her thumbs around each other, unable to keep still. Her eyes darted from the restaurant counter to the window behind Ibuki, unable to keep her focus on her. "Gaaah! This is the first time anyone's asked me out on a date. I thought Hyde would ask me out but it's Ibuki instead! I can't mess this up. She's got such a serious look on her face!"

The black haired beauty across from her always looked annoyed and tired everywhere she went. It made Ibuki unapproachable by normal means, others felt they needed a good reason to be around her or she'll bite! Those were just high school rumors. Although Ibuki was kind, Mary still couldn't shake the feeling of having to be extra cautious around her.

Ibuki thought about what kind of mood she should create. Well this was her first interrogation so maybe she should practice with pulling out information as quickly as she can. No no no, that would be too playful. She would accidentally forget to ask the proper questions. What about a serious mood? Hopefully that doesn't end up scaring Mary to the point she passes out.

"I'm really enjoying working at the agency. How about you? What do you think of it?." Ibuki questioned. Hopefully that didn't come off as too strong.

"Um well…" the question made Mary's nervousness subside for a little. "Everyone is really nice and cool! But Midare still treats me poorly."

She talked about how she got to explore a lot more of the world while doing cases. Ibuki felt the same, she lived a sheltered life in her sister's shadow but now she got to experience more of what the world had to offer, although it was cruel.

Ok this was getting a bit off topic, Ibuki had to get a direct answer somehow. Maybe if she said this…

"It's unfortunate we have a traitor in our agency. I was looking forward to more cases but It's best to postpone our work until Midare can figure out this mystery."

Mary nodded, "I'm worried who it might be. I hope this is just one big misunderstanding. Do you think Noble Third could've done it?"

Oh..?

Well that was a possibility, but what would be their motive for doing so? Ibuki would have to reflect on this later, noticing her food was ready. She ordered gyoza, something she never had before. She rarely explored the meals and treats Japan offered but her sister did. It was time for a change of pace…

────── 〔✿〕──────

Midare stared at the line art on the canvas. It was a drawing of the train station but it lacked something. She tapped her chin with the pencil's end trying to figure out the one thing that was missing from her drawing.

Was it people?

Shadows? No no no…

Midare looked at the mirror resting on the corner of the canvas then turned around both left and right to see if any passerby stopped to watch her paint. Thankfully there weren't any but when she returned to face the canvas, an unexpected face arrived.

The turning of wheels stopped and in the corner of Midare's eye was Dulivale wearing bandages like they were a new fad.

"Hello!" She smiled with her fangs showing.

Midare lowered her pencil and looked at Dulivale seated in a wheelchair. "Explain that."

"It's my greatest trick. The greatest disguise a detective could have. Certainly a whole lot better than a simple outfit change." Dulivale tapped the side of her wheelchair "It's an ill-usion! Hehehe, get it? Because you have to pretend to be ill or injured to ward off attackers."

"That doesn't make much sense. If anything it just makes me want to kick you out of that wheelchair more." Midare glared.

Dulivale moved back a bit. "Wait wait! You can trust me on this. I also managed to get some more information from Morren."

Midare crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow "What did he say?"

"He keeps going on about the day of ruin, saying it over and over like a mental patient." Dulivale shrugged. "I don't know exactly what that is but it may relate to the traitor in your agency."

"Could he be relaying messages using magic..?" Midare rubbed her chin. Morren's abilities made Midare frightened of what unexpected outcomes could result. If it was true that he could predict the future then he would have to be killed… by law. One of the few times Midare agreed with the rules put in place by the director.

She moved her eyes to Dulivale "Tell me more about your technique."

Hyde tapped the counter once again stuck getting the orders of the customers who stopped by. This time his partner behind the counter was Hoka. She wasn't annoying like Mary but having someone similarly quiet as him wasn't very interesting to pass the day with. He was put in charge of watching her in place of Yamiko who was still in the hospital for the meantime.

"..." Hoka stared at him while he was thinking hard. Her thousand yard gaze was enough to take him out of it. It was like she was asking for some attention.

She wore a new gothic black dress Yamiko must've bought her. Over it was a white capelet and a red bow around the collar. She noticed Hyde looking at her cutesy outfit and flipped her bangs much in the same fashion he would.

Hyde plucked her forehead "Yeah right."

Hoka puffed her cheeks then turned away with her arms crossed pretending to be a tsundere. But their attention was taken by Midare who entered with a bandage around her forehead and her right arm in a sling. She dragged around a suitcase by Its handle, stumbling and bumping into customers backs as she made her way to the counter by Hyde.

The boy couldn't help but smirk. "Grass is always greener on the other side eh?"

"I'll happily drag you from behind the counter. Don't get too cocky." Midare shot a glare back.

Hyde chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "What's with the cast?"

"I ran into some trouble."

"Was it Soap?" Hyde questioned eagerly.

"Yeah..." Midare then paused briefly. "Broken arm, minor headache. Just the usual of running into him."

"That's unusual to have a run in with Soap this early." Levin joined the scene. Did he catch onto her lie? Maybe, but Midare didn't want to press the issue. This was the ultimate game of distrust and whether she liked it or not, she was a participant. She needed to know the exact location of everyone in her agency. Most she had given a small task to work on, but others she had not seen. Namely Mikael, Cran and Rine. Midare stood up, asking where they might be.

"They're at Yamiko's garden." Levin said. Before he could add more, Midare grabbed her suitcase and made her move out of the cafe, again, bumping into customers and stumbling like a drunk.

Outside she nearly rammed Ibuki with the door on her way to the garden.

"H-hey! Where are you going?"

"To the garden." Midare replied without looking back.

Ibuki quickly chased after her. "I'll go too!"

────── 〔✿〕──────

"Oh! Oho..! Amazing… fascinating!" Cran muttered on and on while pacing left and right behind Lambda as she watered the plants with gentle rain from the watering can. But listening to Cran be obnoxiously loud was distracting her.

She turned around with a look of disbelief, "Come on Cran… that manga isn't that interesting."

"Oh but it is." Cran closed the book with a cover of a magical girl. "The bonds between humans is something I've always taken an interest in. How it develops, how it falls apart, and how it progresses throughout life. This story explains it all but one thing. Why would a human give up their life for a world they don't even know."

He inspected the cover of the book. "That kind of thinking is childish… Who would want to save a world where everyone can use magic. I guess that theme of childish thinking is prevalent in media like this."

Rine overheard Cran's ramblings and returned to the group holding a tall Sunflower in a brown pot. "Magic isn't all bad. I see it growing alongside the world just like this flower."

Cran glanced at the flower moving his eyes from the bottom of the pot to the tall sun standing proudly. He let out a sigh and shrugged. "I'm not very keen on the idea. Have you seen the people in our cases? There's bound to be so many more just like them. Vile and evil psychopaths."

Lambda placed the watering can down and crossed her arms. "Midare always said that human kindness always outweighs human callousness."

"Midare said that? That's very unlike her to say because of her past. I don't get people…" Cran slowly nodded, replying with a simple. "Is that so…"

The three heard the sound of rolling wheels and turned their attention to Ibuki and Midare, the detective stopped to catch her breath after running the whole way. She brushed her bangs away from her eyes and returned to a more composed state, one akin to her usual stiff self. But the arm sling and constantly dragging around the suitcase made things awkward.

"You look like you were chewed up and spit out like gum." Cran teased.

"Yeah, what happened, senpai?" Lambda questioned.

Midare frowned at their casual greetings towards her. She wanted to reprimand them for insulting her but she had to focus on catching suspicion. "I'm not having the greatest time searching for this traitor."

Saying that put everyone on edge. It was natural for everyone to grow hesitant of each other after being reminded about their dire situation. No one knew how to react. Coming off as too relaxed or too worried but brought equal outcomes, suspicions. Cran was the first to break the silence. Although that method of finding suspicion was often used, Midare wasn't so simple to tactics as inaccurate as that. "Yeah I can imagine. It's hard having to accuse the people close to you." He said, which put everyone on ease.

Ibuki added on, "If it makes everyone feel better, the culprit could've been someone from Noble Third. Morren probably thought we were working together which is why he said there was a traitor in our agency."

Lambda sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Oh right. It could've been them."

"What do you think, Midare? I've been wanting to get into some action instead of writing articles." Cran grinned.

Midare rubbed her chin thinking over it. She didn't consider it a possibility because although they didn't like each other, to go as far as to actively harm the other didn't seem like a thing they would do. Mary did say that one of their members tipped them on Morren, but their documents about Nakata's movements as well as every special weapon known so far was strange.

"You'll have to wait until after I finish investigating this agency." Midare needed to know of their location for a few days so she gave them a specific task, "But you and Rine could see if you can find anything from Levin. You don't have to interrogate him, just see if he's up to unusual behavior."

She placed some faith in Lemon's musketeers. They were made to be noble, honorable, and honest to him at all times. There was little reason for them to be working against the agency, after all, they were knights.